Dial Biscomaun for all govt scheme queries

The state information technology department is working to set up a call centre that can give information about any government scheme and address any query related to any department.

Speaking at an event on Tuesday, department secretary S. Siddhartha said the state call centre would come up on the 13th floor of Biscomaun Bhavan near Gandhi Maidan. It would cater to the state's needs.

Elaborating on the same, department officials told The Telegraph that the concept of the plan, in the process of being framed, was to provide important and basic information about state government schemes and plans to the people and ensure they do not face hassles getting information they need.

"People have many queries. They want to know more and more about the different government schemes and plans so that they can take advantage of the same. For example, a farmer somewhere in Darbhanga might have queries regarding the agriculture department's schemes that can help him. Or, a potential investor might want to know about the industries department schemes of providing grants and subsidies. This call centre is for this purpose. The broader concept of the call centre is to provide the services of different state government departments to the people. The concept is ready and will be brought into execution stage very soon," an information technology department official told The Telegraph .

The IT department is giving special attention how to utilise unused floors at Biscomaun Bhavan.

On Tuesday, Union minister of communications and IT, Ravi Shankar Prasad, inaugurated the Patna centre of National Institute of Electronics and Information Technology (NIELIT) on the 11th floor of the building. The department has taken up the ninth floor of the building to help provide working space to start-up firms so that they can develop their ventures.

"Around 11,666 sqft has been earmarked for development of start-ups on the ninth floor. It can be called an incubation centre to help new industrialists. Advertisements in connection with this plan are out and the last day to send proposals is July 25. The department expects around 100 people will benefit from it," Siddhartha said.

Officials said there was a plan to further extend state call centre services.

"In what can be said to be an extension to the state call centre, the state government will open BPO (business process outsourcing) in rural areas of the state with the same being synced to the state call centre. These rural BPOs will provide information to people in the local dialect. For example, a farmer in Darbhanga, who doesn't know Hindi, English or Bhojpuri, will be provided answers to his queries in his local dialect, that is, Maithili. The same can be said when it comes to other parts of the state. The department is seriously working on both of these plans and they will come to the ground soon," a department official told The Telegraph .